Black Blood Persuasion
by Transtitions
Summary: Maka and Soul head out to Baba Yaga's Castle to investigate a Crona sighting. When they find him, the Black Blood changes everything. WARNING: Male Crona, eventual lemon, some violence. Based off manga, not anime.
1. Chapter 1

"How close is it?", Soul yelled, over the rushing wind as they flew over a forest.

"Just a little more, lets hope we didn't take too long." Maka yelled back, her voice getting swept away by the rush of air.

They had been the first to hear of the sighting. The teams that made up the elite Spartoi unit had all been on separate missions, not having returned yet. When Maka and Soul came to the death room, Lord Death told them about Crona being seen near Baba Yaga's castle. She had been warned that Crona was incredibly dangerous, and different from before. She should wait for back-up, no one could predict how Crona may react to meeting her. She couldn't wait. Every second wasted made Crona more distant. She left, expecting the others to follow not far behind.

Finally the trees broke next to the edge of the canyon. The massive hole beneath held the giant spider in it's mouth. They flew done, already familiar with the experience after months of practice. Maka landed softly, looking up from the base of the castle. Left alone to her thoughts, she wondered about the shy boy who she had spent such short, precious time with. She would have to find him, if just to see him. Just to know what had become of him.

She and her weapon walked into the castle, wary of the collapsed and collapsing structure. They walked, searching for any clue as to the Black-blooded meister's whereabouts. They went straight for the Arachne's room, hoping the others would spread out from there once they arrived. As she walked, Maka thoughts again went back to the timid boy she had once known. His rare but adorable smile, the cautious gate of his steps, the wonder at every small discovery. If the reports were true, what had happened to him? Even before she cleansed his soul, the boy was never this dark and violent. Even under madness he retained some of his innocence to what he was doing. Now he sounded as evil and blood-thirsty as the Kishin.

Hear thoughts were interrupted by Soul calling out. "What's that noise?"

Almost to the door leading to Arachne's room, they both stopped to listen, waiting several seconds before the sound came again. Chewing, loud and sickening, was coming from inside the dead witch's room. Maka sent out her soul perception to look into the room, but something was wrong with her ability. It was as if the room didn't exist to her senses. "I can't get a clear reading on whose in there. Maybe Arachne cast a spell over the room to block meister's from finding her, and it's still functioning after her death." Soul didn't hesitate to respond, "Than the only way to find out what's in there is to see it ourselves. Are you ready Maka?" The meister gave him a firm nod.

They approached slowly, listening for any change in the grinding of teeth in the neighboring room. When they made it to the doors, they both grabbed a handle, looked at each other, and nodded. They threw open the doors and ran inside. It was poorly lit inside, but their eyes had already adjusted in the long walk in. In the inky darkness, a mass was bent over like a beast.

Once inside, Maka's soul perception started working, she sensed a collection of souls too close for them to be alive, and another one, darker than the rest, next to them. Whoever that was, it wasn't Crona. "Who are you!?" Maka yelled at the dark mass. The chewing, which had gone on relentless after their forced entry, had finally stopped. As if whoever it was had bothered to acknowledge their existence. A voice, low and guttural replied, " Oh look, the food came to me this time." It picked itself up and turned around, "Now why would children like you be in a place like this?"

"I asked who you are, answer!" Maka yelled. She had no time to waste on kishin eggs, she needed to find Crona. The man looked at her as if judging the quality of a piece of meat. After a moment of contemplation he responded, "I've never remembered my meals name, and by doing so forgot my own. Now they call me the blacksword demon, thanks to this blade." The man pulled a jet-black sword from his side and licked the blade. "It's said whoever wielded this weapon would fall into madness, but I feel perfectly fine." Letting out a low chuckle.

Suddenly Maka realized what had happened, groaned and put her head in her hands. Whoever had reported Crona's location had seen "a mad swordsman with a black sword", not "a mad black-blooded swordsman." She sighed, held up her head, inhaled, and looked back at the serial killer. "Fine, I may already have a death scythe, but I can't leave you alone to kill others. Soul!" "Right, Maka!" Soul responded as he changed into his scythe form, falling into her hand.

Blade held back Maka charged at the mad swordsman. The kishin egg held his sword ready. Maka swung her scythe in swift motion to the upper right, aiming to tear through his chest. The man swung down and blocked easily. Maka bounced her scythe off his block and spun off it to increase the power of her slash, returning it from the lower left. The man deftly stepped back. Dodging the blade by inches.

"Huhuhu, a much more lively prey than most." chuckled the swordsman. "I'll enjoy this." He took a stance preparing to lunge. Maka followed suit and readied her scythe. The swordsman jumped forward and slashed at the meister, blocking with the shaft she stopped the blade's swing. The man pushed off, his momentum carrying him. Maka swiped at his legs, the man hit the ground and jumped over her. He readied himself to strike back, when suddenly he was falling backwards. "What the?" He looked down and saw a gash in the floor he had tripped on. She had made it when she blocked his swing moments ago, predicting he would jump back here. "No, this can't be!"

Now that he was off-balance, he was completely defenseless. Maka swung around and gripped her scythes. "In the name of Lord Death, I will-" The sound of wings flapping and the swift slash of a sword cut her off. With a silent scream, the unnamed swordsman was dead in moments. All that was left was his soul, floating above his wrecked corpse. But even that was fleeting sight, as a familiar black form bubbled and reformed into Ragnarok, who quickly devoured the soul. Ragnarok was almost as tall as before Maka cleansed him, but far skinnier. But that was of little concern when compared to the condition of the person he was connected to. His face was completely devoid of emotion, haunted with a serenity, if that's what you could call it. It came almost as a shock to remember this boy used to suffer from constant anxiety. Draped in clothes for battle, It almost looked like someone more confident was parading as the boy. But only one person holds the demon sword in his body. Listlessly watching as Ragnarok consumed all the souls that had been the, now dead, black swordsman's meal, his eyes looked empty of emotion of any kind, as if not wanting to think about his existence or others. A haunting indifference.


	2. Chapter 2

Everything froze that moment. The sound of Ragnarok's chewing, her weapons exclamations about the pink-haired boy. All of it was lost once she saw his face, the center of it all. It was cold, the light-blue eyes that had reminded her of the ocean, had froze, leaving only the sharp glint of green-blue ice behind. His face, with skin white and cold as snow, stood there solemn and still. His light pink and thin locks spilling over the side. It didn't show his old fear and anxiety, but the loss and giving up of all emotion. Calm insanity could be it's only description. A face that told of what change was wrought upon him.

Maka was aghast about this frozen look of the boy. Maka barely whispered "Crona...is that, really you?" The boy seemed to hear her and looked over. With a look of only mild interest responded "Who are you? Have we met before?" Maka felt like she had been slapped, destroyed in one sentence. She fell on her hand and knees and looking at the floor, tears leaking out as she failed to hold them back. She had heard he had forgotten, she knew that he didn't remember any of the others. But she had hoped, just hoped she was different. That she could remind the boy of the happiness they once had. But even that had been taken from her. But taken by who?

"Medusa", Maka let the word fall out of her mouth, like poison leaving her body. This was all that witches fault, Crona had done a lot of awful things, but who hadn't been manipulated by the witch? The thought of the disgusting lies told by the snake rooted her back to the moment. She focused on that cold hatred. She tightened her fist, stretching the white gloves that covered her hands. She got on her feet and picked up her scythe, who had been yelling for her. His words flooding in as she came back to reality, "Maka, get up! We can't give up, we haven't even started yet! Crona's standing right over there, close enough to touch. Are you going to let this chance slip from your hands?!" Maka gripped the scythe, her words were calm, but filled with anger. "I'm not letting him slip away, not again." Maka took a stance and swung her scythe around to point at Crona. With the calm anger of authority, she yelled at the demon sword and it's wielder"Just you wait Crona! I'll drag you back to the Academy, unconscious if I have to, and Maka Chop you so hard you'll never forget me again!"

Ragnarok had finished his meal and had turned towards the scythe-meister, his owner following suit. After hearing the proclamation, Crona responded with a quizzical look on his face. "Never forget you? I don't even know your name!? I don't understand what your talking about!" Crona's face was starting to distort, into something... less human. "Just stop talking, I don't know you. Medusa says I don't know you. I'll make you stop, the black blood will make you stop." Anger with confusion was taking hold of Crona's face and figure. The ice-like exterior starting to crack, revealing what rapid rotting had occurred inside his head. Medusa had changed him so much in so little time. The sadness of the thought could have overwhelmed Maka, if she couldn't see the evident blood lust on his face as Crona prepared to fight. He drew his lags in, taking a stance, Ragnarok dissolved into his back, leaving two black arms protruding, wielding a sword in each. The madness Crona leaked out was different than before. Changed from a frantic heat to a cold malice. He looked confident in his ability to fight, unlike every conflict they had before. Maka readied herself, already warmed up after the brief clash with the previous swordsman. "You're different than before, but you're not the only one whose changed! Soul!"

"Already on it Maka." replied the death scythe. Walking into his soul's inner chamber, the weapon whispered an inaudible greeting to his piano. He sat and prepared to start playing. Used to the power he had gained from eating Arachne's soul, all he focused on now was controlling the his own madness while playing.

Maka tightened her grip on the scythe, which now had a pattern of piano keys running across the blade. Crona had regained his composure, and started to drag his blade against his wrist, drawing the black blood out. Crona barely whispered"Bloody Slicer", flinging his arm in an upward arc. The blood leaking out of her wrist formed a crescent and flew towards Maka. But the scyte-meister already knew how to stop it. Maka slashed towards the ground while Soul struck a note on his piano. A slice of sound flew towards the bloody projectile. Stopping it mid-flight. The crescent feel apart in a blot of black, splattering against the floor. Crona barely seemed to care, staring at the spot only briefly. Changing his plan, The Demon Swordsman started walking towards Maka, swinging the cleaver-like blade in his hands slowly, Ragnorak's arms started doing the same, swinging his two swords slowly in an erratic fashion. As Crona got closer, the swings gathered speed. All three blades of black blood going in every direction, but never hitting each other. Slowly growing faster, the blades blurred together. Crona and her weapon partner had transformed into a storm of blades, ready to utterly destroy anything that came in contact with him. With a storm of blades swirling around him, Crona named the new technique, "Bloody Whirlwind", he uttered the words as he neared Maka, several feet between the two meisters.

"Maka, there's no way you can keep up with him." Soul advised his meister. "I know Soul." Maka said the words through gritted teeth. She was already disadvantaged by being inside a building, cutting down on the space she could swing her scythe. Then there was the fact Crona was a swordsman, far superior in close combat when he had one sword, let alone now that he had three blades. "We can't hit him directly, we need to slow him down. Is there anything we can do to slow him down?" Maka wondered the words as she looked behind her, she had a few yards before she was cornered, and didn't seem like Crona was going to walk any faster. He seemed to be enjoying the cat and mouse aspect, a maniac grin growing on his face. Maka worriedly muttered "If Crona got anymore frantic, there would be no way to calm him." After speaking the sentence, Maka got just the idea she needed. "Soul, do you remember when we fought Giriko in the Book of Eibon?" "That crazy chainsaw guy? Well, he turned into a crazy chick at the end of the fight..." Soul wondered what is meister was thinking. Then it struck him, "You want me to slow down Crona with the Noise Canceling wavelength, I thought we weren't trying to kill him!". Maka responded calmly, "We don't need to stop Crona, it's Ragnarok that we need to slow down. But we can't risk killing him either, I don't know what will happen to Crona if we do." Soul reflected on the statement, with only a couple more feet to go there wasn't much time. He reached a decision. "I hate leaving a song unfinished, but that may be the only thing we can do right now. Maka, reach his wavelength with your Soul perception." He spoke the words in a cool manner, distracted by the exchange of words the weapon returned his attention to the enemy he was nearly staring him the face. Yelling to his meister to find safety, "But before that, get out of his way!" Soul yelled the words moments before the blades connected. Maka swung her scythe at the pink-haired swordsman's left side. Disrupting the swinging blades for a moment, she jumped through the opening. Landing next to a pillar, the meister and her weapon put their plan in motion.

Crona's face was stretched into a full maniac grin at this point, beginning to chuckle, he picked up the pace as he walked towards Maka. The storm of blades still raging, Maka had picked out Ragnarok's wavelength. Soul got ready to play, the only thing Maka could do now was wait. Stepping to the side of a pillar, she waited for Crona to come closer. "Time to play." Soul whispered the words as if in respect to the piano. He started tapping the keys, the music leaking out of the instrument as a melancholy tune. Crona progressed unabated, moving towards the scythe meister, apparently unaware of Soul's playing. Ragnarok appeared to notice the music however, as the weapon was cussing at Maka "Stop that playing that shit. It's giving me a damn headache!" the weapon continued his onslaught trying to silence the annoyance. Crona had no idea what his weapon was talking about, but was worried about his anger reaching him before the scythe-meister, he approached even faster.

Slowly, it became apparent that while Crona's movements were the same speed, Ragnorak's were slowing down. Maka was backing up towards another pillar, waiting for her chance to at least survive the encounter. As Maka backed up Crona moved faster. With one last gust of movement the scythe-meister jumped to the side of another pillar. Along with her came Crona's lunge, the pink-haired boy trying to finish the fight. With only inches to go, the storm of blades that circled around Crona was becoming more jumbled. Maka, perceiving the minute changes, got ready to swing Soul. When the black-blooded meister was mere inches from Maka's position. Maka landed and swung her scythe into one of the blades Ragnarok was swinging, Soul stopped his music at the same time, causing an abrupt silence. The sword the scythe hit moved and bounced off Crona's sword, which bounced off Ragnarok's other sword. With the precise movements disturbed horrible. Crona's swing ricocheted off of each other. The meister had lost control of his movements, and with a push from Maka's swing, he collided with the pillar Maka had jumped away from after swinging her weapon. His swings cutting into rock pillar, his blades ate away almost through half of it in the brief second he was connected. He was than bounced off by his own force and slammed into another pillar, destroying the second in the process. The ceiling collapsed above the pink-haired meister, burying him in a pile of boulders.

Maka knew that something like that wouldn't kill Crona, there were more important things to worry about. As noted by widening hole in the ceiling, the two had been struggling inside ruins. They was never a chance that they could have a real fight in here. But one thing did concern Maka, " Soul, will Crona get out in time? I've seen him take a lot of things, but I don't know if Crona could survive a building collapsing on him." She quietly said the words. Her question was soon answered by Ragnarok's yelling and Crona begging him to stop, followed by the entire pile shifting outwards. Another shift, the pile pushed outwards again. Suddenly, spikes shot out of the pile, sending rocks everywhere. They quickly retracted, shooting out again in different places. The boulders slowly being chewed away by the spires, Ragnarok was using every ounce of Crona's blood to get out. Another wave of spikes, than another, and another. It was almost like an insistent knocking, if the person doing so was using a mace. With one more blast of spikes the boulders cleared, they retracted for the last time. All except one, which was rapidly expanding towards Maka. Caught off guard by the change, she barely had time to deflect it with Soul. Catching it with the shaft, the black-blood spike ground against Soul's weapon form, drawing blood. Soul yelled incoherently, blood spilling across the piano of his soul, dripping off the black paint. The spike reached as it's limit, and Maka pushed off to stop anymore damage to her weapon. Crona had recovered from his live burial, and was standing up almost unharmed.

Maka had screwed up, even with Soul stronger after eating Arachne's soul, Ragnorak's blades still cut him. Not only that, the surrounding walls had been weakened by their constant fighting, the already damaged supports were starting to crumble. It was too dangerous to stay here any longer. "Soul, we need to get out of here, fast. Can you still fly?" Soul spoke back in a biting tone, "Of course I still can. What kind of loser would I be if I can't handle a few little scratches?" Maka straddled her scythe, concerned with the blood staining her jacket. She ignored the her worries for the moment, her and her partner needed to get out first. To do so, she started preparing her girigiri wavelength. Crona was coming back with another strike as she lifted off the ground. "Bloody Slicer." Crona drawled in monotone, launching the sharpened wave at his opponent. Maka dodged the deadly projectile, but the column behind her wasn't as fortunate. The strike being the last it could with stand, the column started to crumble, slowly taking the room with it. It had now become a race to escape death by burial, with Maka and Soul taking the lead, they flew down the collapsing pillars to the outside. Arachne's room appeared to have supported everything, now that it was gone, the entire structure was falling apart without it. It didn't help that the Pink-haired meister flying behind them was still trying to stop them mid flight, after breaking through the nearest wall in Arachne's room and sending bloody streaks shooting past them as they escaped. They blades even returned to Crona after missing them. Acting like razor sharp boomerangs. Maka and Soul cut through the air, weaving between falling rocks, bloody projectiles and collapsing walls, they shot towards the exited. Crona on the other hand, was like an unrelenting storm of blades and death. Cutting through everything in his path, smashing through pillars. His black blood protected him from anything. Even a collapsing building couldn't kill him. "We're almost out Soul, keep it up!" Maka yelled the words of encouragement, just as they rounded the last corner to the exit. Or at least, where the exit should have been. Both walls had collapsed in the middle of the hall, raising a mound of rumble to the ceiling, which they were closing in on fast. Maka switched her gaze from the hazard in front of them to the one behind. Crona had just rounded the last turn as well, almost smashing into the far wall. There would be no time to dig or go around the pile. With Crona coming in fast, Maka could only think of one thing to do. "We need to cut a whole in the ceiling with Witch Hunter. Soul, resonate with me." Maka had only seconds to make the plan, but her weapon understood has soon has she mentioned it. The pair had only seconds to raise their resonance to the proper level, but with them already synced enough to fly, that would be all they needed. The two started to prepare, while Soul increased the speed they would need to fly through, and Maka determining their target, a large crack running perpendicular the ceiling. After one last burst of speed, Soul extended his scythe blade to normal length. Maka slipped off her flying position and wielded the scythe.

For the brief jump through the air, everything slowed down, the falling rocks, the leathery snap of Ragnarok's wing, even Maka's breathing all slurred in that moment. Then, with one last inhale, she charged her wavelength and transformed Soul. "Witch Hunter!" Maka yelled the words with almost enough force to destroy the ceiling by themselves. She followed with slice faster than the eye can blink, cutting a whole straight through several feet of rock to the outside. Just wide enough for the meister and weapon to slip through. Carried by the momentum launching them upward, they grazed the edges of the newly made exit. As soon as they entered the moonlight, Maka got back on her scythe and glided softly as she tried to re-sync with her partner. She was proud of how her skills had developed with her partner, and the success of their escape. The feeling was cut short by the sudden appearance of a gash running up her right shoulder blade.

"AAAAAAAGH!" Maka wailed as she felt the searing pain. The blade of blood that had created the wound kept flying upward, it's owner flying through the hole it made. A dark reminder of what had happened to their friend and why they were here. With Maka's soul resonance breaking with Soul, they plummeted to the ground, The scythe wanted to check his meister for serious harm, but was too busy making sure they survived the landing. Their descent was slowed down by one last lift before their wavelengths broke apart, a meter above the ground. Soul transformed, grabbing his meister and shielding her from anymore damage. They hit the ground hard, bouncing off and rolling. Nothing broken thanks to quick reaction, they were undamaged from the fall, Soul checked Maka's back. Thankfully, the wound was shallow, nothing important had been damaged. Maka was beginning to recover from the shock, the wound still bleeding. Crona had started to descend, his wings softly lowering her down with slow leathery snaps. "You can't defeat the black blood, there's nothing that can be done. But don't worry, everything will be washed away in it. In a wave of black blood." Crona spoke the words as a casual remark. Landing quietly, the wings were sucked into his back, and the grin returned.

Maka had regained her composure inside Soul's arms. She pushed herself up into his hold. Still sitting down, she only had one more option. "I can't keep up with him, it's just like before. Soul, we need to try using the Black Blood like last time." Maka spoke the words while staring at Crona's inky form. Soul tightened his grip on the meister in his hands, her "Maka that's too dangerous!" Maka pushed him away, standing up, stating them with authority she threw the words at her weapon."Just do it. We need to try. You know there's nothing else that can survive his attacks." Soul scowled for a moment, dropped his shoulders, "I don't know what will happen, but I can't disobey a meister orders can I? Fine, lets try that again. I hope you don't make too much of a fool out of yourself." Soul turned into his scythe form, jumping into his meister's hand. Catching the weapon, Maka spun him around, making sure their souls were in sync. After a final twirl, she swept the blade in front of her, and with one last look she prepared to enter madness.


End file.
